Politics. Sex. Science. Art. You know, the good stuff.

Stephanie Zvan is an analyst by trade, but she's paid not to talk about it. She is also the associate president of Minnesota Atheists and one of the hosts for their radio show and podcast, Atheists Talk. She speaks on science and skepticism in a number of venues, including science fiction and fantasy conventions.

Stephanie has been called a science blogger and a sex blogger, but if it means she has to choose just one thing to be or blog about, she's decided she's never going to grow up. In addition to science and sex and the science of sex, you'll find quite a bit of politics here, some economics, a regular short fiction feature, and the occasional bit of concentrated weird.

Oh, and arguments. She sometimes indulges in those as well. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

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The anti-Atheism+ crowd, the ones who go around complaining about it everywhere, like to suggest that everyone sees things the same way they do. In fact, they say this to each other a rather lot, reinforce the idea even.

Every once in a while, however, that idea comes up against a fresh audience. It did just that yesterday, on a MetaFilter thread dedicated to Annalee Newitz’s io9 post on conferences and conventions dealing with harassment. This being MetaFilter, the discussion was pretty good. In fact, it was better than I’ve seen MetaFilter on harassment, but they have been talking about the topic almost as much as the rest of us lately.

After a good chunk of mostly respectful and non-derailed talk, up showed Decani, whom some of you will recognize as Jack Rawlinson.

Re the only one of these three I actually know a lot about:

Though some would cast this as a war between sexism and feminism, it isn’t that simple.

You can say that again. And the only people casting it in that way are those on the Watson/Skepchick side.

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I have a question raised by a recent post. In it, you set some ground rules for your comments:

In the comments section below, please stick to the interview and topics covered by Dawkins. We’re not going to have a pack of slavering dogs accusing Richard of being a “raving misogynist,” since he isn’t.

I checked. I did manage to find two people who had called Dawkins a “raving misogynist”. One of them was on Facebook. One on Tumblr. Neither of them appeared to be drooling. Neither appeared to be someone who comments on your blog.

So who are these “slavering dogs”? I mean, I can understand not wanting such a creature to comment on your blog, but with only two of them, neither of whom appears to be a fan, surely you don’t need to issue a general statement, do you?

Or maybe you’re being more general. You say in a comment:

No, I think the characterization is quite appropriate for those who call Dawkins a misogynist. And this is the end of that discussion.

I don’t think you can quite mean that, though. Reducing people to “slavering dogs” based on their opinion of one person’s behavior…well. And doing it so unilaterally, not subject to appeal? [Read more…]

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How do you know whether you’re a chill girl? Simple. Is your reaction to complaints from other women of harassment and discrimination based on gender to turn to the guys and say, “Nah, I’m fine. It’s all cool”? Then you’re a chill girl.

How do you know whether you’re a queen bee? Simple. Did you struggle your way up to a position of power or influence in what was decidedly a man’s world, only to then turn around and tell other women that unless they can do what you did, they have to stay in their subservient positions? Then you’re a queen bee.

So, if you are a queen bee or a chill girl, pay attention. [Read more…]